es mentioned by the learned Dr. Plot in his _Nat. Hist._ of
_Oxfordshire_: Which I only mention here, that the variety may be
compar'd by some ingenious person thereabouts, as well as the truth of
the fatal prae-admonition, of oaks bearing strange leaves: Besides that
famous oak of _New Forest_ in _Hampshire_, which puts forth its buds
about Christmass, but wither'd again before night; and was order'd (by
our late King Charles II.) to be inclos'd with a Pale; (as I find it
mentioned in the last edition of Mr. Camden's _Brit._) And so was
another before this; which his grandfather, King James, went to visit,
and caused benches to be plac'd about it; which giving it reputation,
the people never left hacking of the boughs and bark till they kill'd
the tree: As I am told they have serv'd that famous oak near
_White-Ladys_ which hid and protected our late Monarch from being
discovered and taken by the Rebel-Soldiers, who were sent to find him,
after his almost miraculous escape at the battel of _Worcester_. In the
mean time, as to this extraordinary precosness, the like is reported of
a certain wallnut-tree as well as of the famous white-thorns of
_Glassenbury_, and blackthorns in several places. Some of our common
oaks bear their leaves green all winter; but they are generally
pollards, and such as are shelter'd in warm corners and hedge rows. To
speak then particularly of oaks, and generally of all other trees of
the same kind, (by some infallible characters) notice should be taken of
the manner of their spreading, stature and growth, shape and size of the
acorn, whether single or in clusters, the length or shortness of the
stalks, roundness of the cup, breadth, narrowness, shape, and indentures
of the leaf; and so of the bark, +Trachys+, asperous, or smooth, brown
or bright, &c. Tho' most (if not all of them) may rather be imputed to
the genius and nature of the soil, situation, or goodness of the seed,
than either to the pretended sex or species. And these observations may
serve to discover many accidental varieties in other trees, without
nicer distinctions; such as are fetch'd from profess'd botanists; who
make it not so much their study, to plant and propagate trees, as to
skill in their medicinal virtues, and other uses; always excepting our
learned countryman, Mr. Ray, whose incomparable work omits nothing
useful or desirable on this subject; wanting only the accomplishments of
well-design'd sculps. There is likewise